Downingtown parents concerned with school redistricting

DOWNINGTOWN — Parents voiced concerns over the proposed school redistricting plan on their children during public input meetings during the month.

Among the concerns were misplaced boundary lines, students making multiple moves in a few short years, and programs that may not be available after students move.

“Glitches” in the plan included splitting North Milford Road down the middle of the road, with each side of the road attending a different elementary school.

Advertisement

Jane Bertone, committee member and president of the school board, said that this glitch and any others will be adjusted before the final plan is presented to the school board.

Other parents wanted to make the committee aware of issues that would require further attention.

A major concern for parents is how the move will affect their children.

Brandon Athis, whose daughter, now in grade 3, would attend three different schools in three years, said he was having a hard time accepting the proposal.

“To have at this age three years of transition, how possibly can you sustain or form any relationships that she would use in the rest of her school years?” Athis asked.

Karen White said she was worried about the lack of belonging, loyalty, strong friendships, school spirit and other detrimental effects that could result from the proposed plan.

“My concern tonight is about the children who will be switching schools so often,” Karen White said. “My daughter will be shuffled to four schools in five years, and five schools in seven years when high school is considered. I know (the committee feels) kids are resilient and they are. However I feel opportunities are being created for kids to fall through the cracks. Sure the kids will survive the transition, but many will fail to meet their potential? I think (the transition) would be very difficult as an adult, and I think as a child, even more so.”

Other parents, such as Jeff White, asked the committee to consider that daycare and other specialized programs may not service their children’s new schools.

“Are any of the special education programs going to be moved as a result of the redistricting?” asked Jeff White, whose son is in a program at Shamona Creek. His other child attends Brandywine Wallace, and will be relocated to Springton Manor.

For secondary schools, the plan proposes to balance the 21.4 percent disparity in student population between East and West campuses. East has the higher population. The committee’s recommendation is to move the Williamsburg and Norwood House developments from East to West.

The new high school boundaries would go into effect for the 2015-16 school year, and students currently enrolled in secondary schools will remain in their currently assigned school until 2015.

Come implementation, parents in the Williamsburg and Norwood House developments have the choice to move their children in eighth, ninth, and 10th grades to Downingtown Middle School and Downingtown West; or to attend Downingtown East through graduation.

Once a student is in a certain middle school, they will follow that tract through to graduation, essentially grandfathering the students.

Some parents felt secondary lines were not worth adjusting. It was noted that only 100 to 130 students are being moved, compared to hundreds of elementary students.

“Consider not redistricting the secondary schools at this time,” said Jason Monteleone, presenting the committee with an alternative.

According to Monteleone, the plan’s assumed growth model is uncertain. “There is no real reason to make this decision now. This decision could still be made in three to four years if the demographic assumptions actually do hold true.”

Other parents in the Williamsburg development asked the board to reconsider redistricting secondary schools.

“We’re simply here because we want to stay with our (schools),” said Mary Federman, resident in the development. “We want to ask the board two things. One is that you please vote on the redistricting issues separately – one for primary and one for secondary. And the next thing is that you please consider at this time not opting to any secondary redistricting at all.”

According to Suzanne Simonelli, committee and school board member, establishing a redistricting plan for secondary schools was difficult due to the expected opening of the Sixth Grade Center.

“Looking at East and West high schools, (we) have more kids in East than we do in West,” Simonelli said. “West is the bigger building, West can hold more kids. West should really have more kids. So the idea was to look at balancing it better, better utilization of the two buildings.”

However some parents, such as Regan Overstreet, who spoke at meetings for both the elementary and secondary schools, were concerned over the possibility of the committee making a last-minute change to the proposals.

“Everyone is impacted, and it is very heard especially when small streets are impacted,” said Overstreet.

She asked that the committee make their decisions not based upon the emotional reactions expressed during the meetings. “Use (the) cold, hard facts solely to make your decisions when moving forward,” she said.

The committee, which represents all nine regions in the district and a variety of demographics, will meet again on April 9 to discuss the concerns voiced during the public sessions. The current proposal is the result of more than six months of work performed by the 22-member committee.

“(This) wasn’t done capriciously, it wasn’t done on a whim,” said Superintendent Lawrence Mussoline. “There were (months) of thought put into this. In many respects the elementary was more difficult than the secondary because the secondary redistricting dealt with about 100 to 130 kids and it dealt with a neighborhood, since that was a parameter that the board and the committee agreed to. The elementary took a lot of time because there were literally hundreds of movements.”

Redistricting became a consideration when the board and administration saw a growing need to balance the student population at the elementary and middle schools, based on each building’s capacity.

The last time the Downingtown area underwent a redistricting process was in 2007, when Springton Manor Elementary School first opened.

The school board hopes to finalize its proposal and receive approval from the Pennsylvania Bard of Education by June, giving the district about a year for residents and students to adapt to the new pattern prior to the expected start date of the 2014-15 school year, coinciding with the opening of the Sixth Grade Center.

The redistricting committee, composed of parents, school board members and district administrators, hosted the meetings at Downingtown High School East and West campuses, separating comments directed at the secondary and elementary plans. Meetings for the elementary school proposal were held on March 12 at Downingtown East and on March 14 at Downingtown West. A meeting for the secondary plan was hosted on March 21 at Downingtown West.

The 22-member committee considered a total of 15 plans, and voted on elementary and secondary plans separately. The final plan for elementary schools was unanimously approved by the committee, although the vote for the secondary schools plan was split 19-3.

Last year, the board outlined the objectives for the redistricting process, which included realigning residential zones to balance student population at elementary schools based on an optimum range of 80-90 percent of school capacity; realigning to balance the secondary schools; and create whole school feeder patterns to both high schools from the middle level.

Criteria taken into consideration by the committee during the planning process included transportation efficiency and safety, balanced utilization of schools, keeping neighborhoods together, and ultimately moving the least number of students possible.

At the most recent meetings, most of the concerns brought to the committee were individualized, with parents concerned about the anxiety their children may experience by being forced to move to a new school.

For elementary schools, overcrowding is primarily an issue at Pickering Valley, the most populated school in the district, currently at 101 percent capacity; and at Lionville, currently at 99.1 percent capacity.

The plan proposes decreasing capacity of those schools, as well as Uwchlan Hills, Shamona Creek, East Ward, Beaver Creek, and West Bradford elementary schools.